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Supreme Court

by Anial » Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:10 pm
Although the Supreme Court ruled as long ago as 1880 that Blacks could not be excluded outright from jury service, nearly a century of case-by-case adjudication has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries must be drawn from a fair cross section of the community.

(A) has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries must be
(B) was necessary for developing and enforcing the principle of all juries being
(C) was to be necessary in developing and enforcing the principle of all juries to be
(D) is necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries must be
(E) will be necessary for developing and enforcing the principle of all juries being

[spoiler]Answer : A[/spoiler]

Guys,
Can anyone explain me why A is the correct Choice. It say nearly a century and has given year as 1880.So how can be the use of Present perfect correct.If it was over a century then the present perfect would have been fine.

Am I missing out sth??
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by tallazndood » Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:37 pm
Anial wrote:Although the Supreme Court ruled as long ago as 1880 that Blacks could not be excluded outright from jury service, nearly a century of case-by-case adjudication has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries must be drawn from a fair cross section of the community.

(A) has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries must be
(B) was necessary for developing and enforcing the principle of all juries being
(C) was to be necessary in developing and enforcing the principle of all juries to be
(D) is necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries must be
(E) will be necessary for developing and enforcing the principle of all juries being
I approached this problem using POE from the bottom up:

E. INCORRECT - "will" describes future events.
D. INCORRECT - "is" describes current events.
C. INCORRECT - "was to be" is awkward and wordy.
B. INCORRECT - "for developing" is not the correct idiom. "to develop" is the correct idiom.
A. CORRECT - IMO: "has been" describes an action that has started in the past, presumably after 1880 and continues to the present. There's no indication that this process has stopped, hence present perfect tense is used here. 1880, in the context of the question, serves as a starting point in time.
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by rockeyb » Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:00 pm
Guys,
Can anyone explain me why A is the correct Choice. It say nearly a century and has given year as 1880.So how can be the use of Present perfect correct.If it was over a century then the present perfect would have been fine.

Am I missing out sth??

You need to understand what the sentence is trying to say .

"Although the Supreme Court ruled as long ago as 1880"

The meaning is even tough the rule was made some time in 1880 since then till date (from 1880 till date is nearly a century)a case by case adjudication was necessary to put this rule in force.

And thus the use of Present Perfect tense clear and justified.
"Know thyself" and "Nothing in excess"
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